Territory



(No Model.)

J. A. MORSE. GAR COUPLING.

No. 402,761. Patented May 7, 1889.

Q 3 M WITNESSES: I 2 llVVE/VTOB:

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JAMES A. MORSE, OF FORT BOWVIE, ARIZONA TERRITORY.

CAR-COU PLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,761, dated May '7,1889. Application filed January 21, 1889. Serial No. 297,029- (Nomodel.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. MORSE, of Fort Bowie, in the county ofCochise and Territory of Arizona, have invented a new and ImprovedCar-Coupler, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to an improvement in car-couplers, and has for itsobject to provide a coupler of simple and durable construction, in whichcoupling-pins will be automatically raised to admit the link in processof coupling, and automatically lowered within the link when said linkhas entered the draw-head; and a further object of the in vention is toprovide a means for uncoupling from the top or sides of the car, asmaybe desirable.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of theseveral parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed outin the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthisspecification, in which similar figures of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the coupler attached to a box-car.Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the draw-head, and Fig. 3is a plan view of the link.

The draw-head 10 is preferably made rectangular at the rear and providedwith an outwardly-flaring forward end, in which forward end the usuallink-opening, 11, is provided.

At the junction of the flaring portion of the draw-head with the rear orstraight portion a pin-aperture, 12, is produced, adapted to receive acircular pin, 13. In front of the upper pin-aperture a longitudinalslot, 14, is formed in the draw-head, intersecting the said upperaperture, as best illustrated in Fig. 2.

A recess, 15, is formed in the upper edge of the draw-head at thecenter, and in said recess one end of a lever-arm, 16, is pivoted, thesaid arm being adapted to normally extend perpendicularly downwardWithin a short distance of the lower wall of the link-opening, and thelower extremity of the lever-arm 16 is attached to the coupling-pin 13at or near the upper end by a rod, 17.

To the rear of the u er ill-opening, 12 a forwardly-inclined standard,18, is bolted to the draw-head, in the upper end of which standard afriction-roller, 19, is j ournaled, adapted to bear against the rearside of the pin to facilitate the rising and falling of the same.

A chain, 20, is attached to the upper end of the coupling-pin andcarried upward to the top of the car, and side chains, 21, are attachedto the mainchain 20 above the sill of the car, the said side chainsbeing carried over suitable friction-pulleys, 22, to the side of thecar, at which point handles are preferably attached to thechain.

The link preferably employed in connection with the draw-head abovedescribed is illustrated in Fig. 3, and is slightly longer than theordinary link, and the sides at each end are concaved or cut away toform reduced end extensions, 24, for the link 23.

The link-opening in the rear of the drawhead and within the rectangularportion is preferably of sufficient height to receive the end of thelink only, whereby the link is normally sustained in a horizontalposition for .convenient entrance into the opposing drawhead.

In the operation of the coupling the link of the opposing draw-head,striking the pendent lever-arm 16, forces the same inward and upward, asshown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, whereupon the pin is carried, by meansof the connecting-rod 17, to a perpendicular position, also illustratedin dotted lines in Fig. 2, the said pin being assisted in the upwardmovement by the friction-roller 19. The link is thus free to pass intothe link-opening and tothe rear of the same, as shown in positive linesin Fig. 2. As the lever-arm 16 is released, it drops back by gravity toits normal position, likewise the pin 13, which passes down through theopening in the link, effecting a coupling.

Having thus described myinvention,whatI claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a draw-head provided with a pin-aperture, acoupling-pin held in said aperture, and a standard attached to thedraw-head, provided with a friction-roller tically downward, a rodconnecting the lower extremity of the lever-arm and the upper contiguousface of the coupling-pin, and a standard secured to the upper face ofthe drawhead and provided with a frictiomroller engaging with the pin,all arranged for operation substantially as shown and described.

J. A. MORSE.

Witnesses:

THOMAS CHATHAM, S. R. DE LONG.

